


Crossing Paths

by grasslandgirl



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Gen, M/M, TAZ: Balance spoilers, also julia is alive bc fuck kalen, it's modern-ish but there's still magic and stuff, rated Teen for language and shenanigans, theyre just not in the ipre and from another planet whooopssss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-12-30 14:19:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18316979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grasslandgirl/pseuds/grasslandgirl
Summary: People are disappearing in Neverwinter.When Taako’s twin sister Lup disappears without a trace, he and their partner in crime Barry (who’s not-so-secretly in love with Lup) start out to find out where the fuck she went.They are accompanied by Carey Fangbattle and Magnus Burnsides, both of whom are looking for their wives- Killian and Julia- who have disappeared under the same mysterious circumstances as Lup. Also in their ramshackle party is the best detective in the world, thirteen year old Angus McDonald. He hasn’t lost anyone- not in the same way Taako and the others have, at least- but he felt it pertinent to lend his considerable skills to the cause. When they’re joined by the wayward pseudo-cleric Merle, and Kravitz- an emissary to the Raven Queen- Taako is left wondering when he will stop attracting the attentions of clingy strangers, if Barry will ever admit his feelings for Lup, and if the mysterious Kravitz is single.That, and of course, where the fuck his sister is.





	1. Barry

**Author's Note:**

> hello all! this is my first taz fic but i binged all of it like a month ago over the course of literally two weeks so now im Trash so this is where we are now! comments and kudos are always appreciated, as are constructive criticisms! this fic is gonna end up being pretty long so hopefully you all will stay with me here! enjoy!!

“My dude,” Taako says, hip cocked and head tilted, “is that  _ really  _ what you’re wearing to go save my sister?” 

Barry flushes and looks away, absentmindedly fingering the sleeve of his trusty jean jacket, the same one he’s had for years. The same one Lup never ceased making fun of; and the one she never stopped stealing away from him. There are more than a few food stains, scorch marks, and bedazzled patches on it, and Taako knows that it’s his favorite jacket- not because of how long he’s had it- but because it reminds Barry of Lup. 

And while a few days ago, that kind of sentimentality would have been something Taako would have made fun of mercilessly, now he kind of gets it.

Lup has been missing for nearly a week at this point. It isn’t all that odd for her to disappear for a few days at a time, but this is the first time she hasn’t responded to Barry and Taako’s repeated farspeech messages. And then the messages stopped going through at all.

It was her radio silence, the lack of any sign from Lup for multiple days, more than her disappearance itself that raised red flags for Taako and Barry. Lup is all they have- either of them. 

Before Barry came along, it was just Taako and Lup, alone more often than not. They spent the majority of their childhood moving from relative’s house to relative’s house, and when those ran out, from town to town. Hitchhiking and walking and living on the streets when they had to. It wasn’t an easy childhood, not by a longshot, but they had each other throughout it, the one constant they knew they could rely on.

Eventually, when their childhood was far behind them, they ended up in Neverwinter, and when the two of them met Barry Bluejeans, an awkward and surprisingly clever human man, Taako and Lup realized they had found something they hadn’t even realized they needed- or were missing in the first place. 

Barry fell into their life easier then they had ever expected; he was as kindhearted as Lup, and softer than either of them, but was just as smart as they were- maybe smarter. His gentle, inquisitive nature balanced out the twins’ wild sides, but he never tried to hold them back. In fact, more often than not, Barry was the one secretly egging one twin or the other on. 

The trio settled into a balance they didn’t realize they could even have; and Lup and Taako had been in Neverwinter for nearly five years now, longer than they’ve ever stayed anywhere. 

For Taako, the more suspicious and distrusting of the two, it was hard to believe they could be safe, be stable, in a way they had never been able to be before. But he was getting there.

And then Lup disappeared. 

And the precarious and beautiful balance the three of them had created- unspoken romantic tension between Lup and Barry notwithstanding- collapsed around them. Which meant there was only one thing to do.

Barry and Taako set out to find their missing piece; at any cost.

Barry shakes his head, brushing away the question he knows is Taako’s way of checking in on him. “Are you ready, Taako?” He asks instead, knowing better at this point than to actually try and answer any of the questions Taako has about his fashion taste. 

“Hell yeah, my dude,” Taako responds, flippant as ever, “Taako is always ready to go off the grid. And when we find Lup I’m gonna kick her ass into the astral plane.” 

Barry nods once, slowly. He knows that Taako uses humor and irreverence to hide his true feelings- the terror and uncertainty of losing Lup that Barry knows Taako has buried deep. Barry also knows better than to try and push Taako to talk about his feelings. Lup is still the only person who can make Taako do anything he doesn’t want to, and Barry trusts that Taako will talk to him- or at least to Lup- when he needs to.

But that would involve finding Lup in the first place.

There have been reports of people going missing from across Neverwinter for the past few weeks- something none of the three of them paid very much attention to. Since Lup’s disappearance, though, Barry has spent every minute he could learning about the others’ disappearances.

There had been a couple dozen reports by the time Lup had disappeared, about half of the missing people had since been found, with varying unrelated reasons for their disappearances. As for the scant fifteen other missing people, the conditions surrounding the vanishings followed a strange sort of pattern.

There wasn’t a pattern in who disappeared, the reports were for people of all ages and races, but all fifteen people were reported to have left their place of residence in the middle of the night sometime in the last two weeks- starting with the disappearance of an orc woman,  another person disappeared almost every night following, including Lup. Friends and relatives report the missing persons mentioning no plans to leave town beforehand, and few claim that the vanished parties had prior history in leaving without any notice; Lup is an outlier in that regard. None of the missing people have responded to any farspeech messages to date, from loved ones or the militia, and most reports agree that a few days after the disappearance, the person’s stone of farspeech stops connecting at all. 

None of the missing people have been found, nor have any trace been found of them.

But before now, Barry and Taako hadn’t been looking. 

And they won’t stop at anything until they find Lup.


	2. Carey

Carey leans her head on Magnus’ shoulder. It’s been almost two weeks since her wife, Killian, had disappeared in the middle of the night. When Carey first woke up that morning, alone in their bed, she had assumed that Killian- ever the obnoxious early bird- had gotten up and gone for a run or to get breakfast. When an hour passed, and then two, Carey had started furiously calling Killian’s stone of farspeech, over and over again. She called Magnus, her best friend, in desperation, hoping that he had heard from her. He hadn’t.

Carey called every person she knew, but none of them had seen or heard from Killian. Magnus, along with his wife Julia, came to her house, and together the three of them searched as much of Neverwinter as they could, Carey calling Killian every few minutes as they did.

They found no trace of her.

By the end of the day, Carey was forced to admit that her wife was well and truly missing, and Magnus took her to the Neverwinter Militia to make a missing person’s report.

Hurley, a lieutenant of the militia, was put in charge of her case, and when, after a few days, more reports of missing person cases just like Carey’s started to flood in- including the disappearance of Julia- they were forced to admit that this was something bigger than they had anticipated.

It took everything Carey had to keep Magnus from literally tearing the city apart when Julia disappeared too, and Carey was- if possible- even more heartbroken then she had been before. The four of them- Carey, Magnus, Killian, and Julia- were best friends, and had been for years, even before they got married and settled down. With half of their group missing, Carey and Magnus didn’t know how to move forward with their lives.

Hurley called them to the station earlier that day, citing a breakthrough and wanting them to know about it firsthand and in person.

Magnus wraps one of his arms- burly and comically larger than Carey’s own- around her shoulders and leans his head on top of her own. They’re waiting for Hurley to finish whatever meeting or briefing she’s in at the moment so she can tell them whatever news she has.

“Mr. Burnsides? Mrs. Fangbattle?” A young and chipper voice calls out suddenly, and Carey jerks upright. A young boy, maybe thirteen, is standing in front of them, holding a large book and smiling a little sadly. He cocks his head inquisitively as the two of them nod mildly in answer to his question. “My name is Angus McDonald. Lieutenant Hurley told me to come get you and bring you to her office.”

They get up and follow the boy- Angus- out of the station’s waiting area and through the bullpen into Hurley’s office. It’s small, but cozy, and when the three of them walk in, Hurley looks up and smiles at them. She looks tired, worn ragged by the grueling hours she’s spent trying to find the missing persons- or at least figure out how they disappeared. Her desk is cluttered with papers and folders- likely information on the various missing persons- as well as multiple photographs and a magically miniaturized cherry blossom tree, its petals perpetually blowing in a nonexistent breeze.

“Magnus, Carey, thank you for coming.” She hops down from her chair- at her full height, she can just barely see over the height of the desk- and walks around to shake their hands. “You’ve met Angus, I assume,” the boy in question, nearly a head taller than Hurley already, grins and waves a hand sheepishly, “Angus is one of the Militia’s greatest assets,” Hurley continues, walking back around the desk and sitting back down in her chair. She gestures for the two of them to sit.

“How is a little boy an asset to the militia?” Carey asks as they sit, sending an awkward glance at Angus, who had moved to stand next to Hurley behind the desk.

“I’m not a very little boy, Mrs. Fangbattle,” he says firmly, but politely. “I’m nearly thirteen years old, and I’m the best detective in the world.”

“I’m sorry,” Magnus says after a beat, and Carey knows him well enough to recognize the tone of voice he uses when he’s trying- and failing- not to laugh. But Hurley nods seriously, and smiles at Angus almost proudly.

“He’s right, he’s helped the militia out more times than I can count and he’s been across Faerun helping other people.” Hurley says, “If there’s anyone who can figure out what’s going on in this missing persons case and find Killian and Julia, it’s him.”

“I am a very good detective, sir,” Angus adds, smiling brightly.

Magnus glances at Carey. Normally, she wasn’t one to put trust in people just on good faith. But Carey trusts Hurley’s judgement, and if she believes this kid is good enough to find Killian, she’s willing to believe her. Carey’s willing to do and believe almost anything to get Killian back at this point, and she knows Magnus feels the same way.

“Ok,” She says, nodding slowly, “so what’s the plan?”

Angus explains that he has heard rumours from travelers through Neverwinter of an odd sort of barrier appearing in the forest to the west. It’s not a physical wall or boundary, but people claim that old paths they’ve used before have changed directions, and some unknown force seems to be guiding them around something near the middle of the forest. “I suspect that whatever is taking or leading the missing people away is located in the forest, and that it’s made some sort of boundary to keep passersby from getting suspicious,” Angus continues, pointing at a map spread out across Hurley’s desk. “I plan on casting true sight on myself and going into the forest. Hopefully I’ll be able to find where the missing people are being held, and why they’ve been taken.”

“So you think that someone’s kidnapping people?” Magnus asks, a hand on the knife at his waist, as though whoever took his wife and friend were going to pop out from behind one of the bookshelves lining the back of Hurley’s office.

“I think it’s the most likely answer, given the repeating and odd circumstances surrounding everyone’s disappearance,” Angus replies calmly, either not noticing or not bothered by Magnus’s rising frustration.

“You’re planning on going into the Neverwinter woods by yourself?” Carey asks, not wanting to let Magnus get any more worked up. “The forest is miles wide, even seasoned rangers and druids avoid crossing it alone, and you want to venture into it with the purpose of finding some potential kidnappers _alone_ _?_ ”

Angus frowns at her, seemingly more perturbed at her doubt on his behalf than on the possible dangers she raised. “I can take care of my self ma’am, I have been for a while.” He smiles again, proud and hopeful, and Carey is struck by just how young he is. “I’m the best detective in the world!” He proclaims again, as though that should assuage all her fears.

Carey wonders what Killian would do, if she and Magnus were the ones who had gone missing, and Carey realizes, without a doubt, what she needs to do.

“I’m coming with you, then, Angus.”

“You are?”

Carey had expected the self proclaimed boy detective to be irritated by her inviting herself along, or to try and argue her out of it; but to her surprise, Angus looks thrilled to have company on his quest.

“You are?” Magnus echoes from beside her, and when she turns to look at him, she sees hope in her best friend’s eyes for the first time since Killian disappeared. He grins, nods once, and Carey can’t help but feel hopeful herself; Angus is the best detective in the world, after all, and she and Magnus Burnsides aren’t all together useless themselves.

They were going to find Killian and Julia. They had to.


	3. Merle

Merle is.... Something else. He seems to unintentionally adopt and befriend nearly everyone he comes across, despite being a self professed ‘deadbeat father’ to his actual children. He has very little respect for personal space or privacy, and an odd obsession with casting  _ Zone of Truth _ at inopportune times. He’s incredibly granola for a fifty year old dwarf, and a little too irreverent to be a convincing cleric, despite his (apparently) prevalent spell slots. He lives across the hall from Taako, Lup, and Barry, and his flat smells like dirt and plants more often than not- though none of them know how he gets away with having what is almost a full blown greenhouse inside his mid-level apartment. 

He wandered into their lives not long after they first settled in Neverwinter, and never seemed to leave, taking up a weird pseudo-dad-slash-uncle role in all their lives without even realizing it. 

Needless to say, he’s just as worried about Lup as Taako and Barry are.

“Hey boys!” He calls out, walking into their apartment without warning or knocking, as is normal. Barry and Taako, sitting at the table and arguing avidly over a map spread out in front of them, barely notice Merle’s arrival. Barry gives a halfhearted wave, without looking away from the map, and Taako shoots the older dwarf the finger without pausing in his verbal tirade against Barry- something about magical energy signatures.

Unperturbed, Merle slumps into one of the empty chairs at the table and spares only a cursory glance at the map, which he now sees is covered in pins and post-its, before saying, “Still no luck finding her?”

Taako, in a feat of dramatized exhaustion, finishes his argument and collapses back into his chair, one hand draped carefully over his forehead. “What do you think, old man?” He gripes, still not bothering to look at Merle; who isn’t phased. He’s used to Taako’s dramatics and general apathy towards him; he knows it’s a carefully constructed shield. 

“Taako thinks he can track Lup’s magical energy signature,” Barry explains, “but he would need to be in a closer proximity than where we are now, and because we don’t know which direction she went in, we don’t know how to get into range.” Taako groans wordlessly, either in agreement or frustration, from the other side of the table. 

Then, all of a sudden, Taako’s stone of farspeech rings. 

He springs up, and he and Barry both scramble to find the stone, buried under the mountain of maps and papers. When he finally finds it, he raises it victoriously, a terrified kind of hope shining on his face. 

When he looks down to see who’s calling, however, Taako’s face crumples, just for a second, before he carefully builds back up his aloof facade. 

“What’s up, Ango?” He says into the stone, and though Merle knows he’s heartbroken the call wasn’t somehow from Lup, he also knows Taako’s happy to hear from the young boy.

“Sir!” Angus’ voice calls brightly from the stone. “Is Mr. Bluejeans there, also?”

“Angus, I’ve told you that you don’t have to call me Mr. Bluejeans-” Barry says, leaning towards Taako to talk into the stone.

“Yeah, pumpkin, he’s here,” Taako answers, talking over Barry, “and the useless old cleric invited himself into our home again so he’s here too.” 

“Oh! Hi, Merle!” Angus says, and Merle smiles and waves, though he knows Angus can’t see him- Taako rolls his eyes. “I’m calling because Lieutenant Hurley and I had a breakthrough, we think we know where all the missing people are being taken.”

“What?” Taako screeches, and it’s a testament to Angus’s infinite patience that he maintains his bright tone as he continues to explain.

“There have been reports of weird magical energy signatures coming from the Neverwinter forest to the west, and I’m planning on going to investigate!”

“Hell yeah, Agnes, that’s my boy! When are you leaving, cause like we’re coming with you, natch. But Taako needs a hot minute to get his shit together, you feel?”

“Oh, don’t worry, sir! Carey, Magnus, and I were planning on leaving tomorrow morning, and I suspected you- and maybe Merle and Mr. Barry- would want to come too, which is why I called!” 

“Magnus?” Merle asked, mimicking Barry and leaning closer to the stone so Angus could hear him, “You mean Magnus Burnsides?”

“Yes. His wife, Julia Burnsides, and his friend Carey’s wife, Killian Fangbattle, are also among the people who have gone missing, and they’re planning on coming with me to investigate the forest!”

“He’s a carpenter, right? I think I bought a coffee table from him a little over a year ago-” Merle continues, but Taako cuts over him again.

“Yeah, great, whatever. Ango?”

“Don’t worry, sir, we’re going to find Auntie Lup. I know it.”

And for the first time since Lup disappeared, Merle sees some of the tension drain out of Taako’s shoulders. “Fucking obviously, D’jango,” He says, grinning at the stone, “you’ve got Taako-  _ from TV- _ on the case.”

“I have to go now, sir, but I’ll be home in time for dinner, ok?”

“Bye Angus,” Barry says absently, having spent the last few minutes since Angus mentioned the west forest combing the map, moving around post-its, and scribbling something into the margins.

“Later pumpkin!” Taako crows, and ends the call abruptly. He’s grinning triumphantly now, the same kind of smile that tends to put people on edge, the kind that makes it look like he’s about to fuck some shit up. That’s usually exactly what it means.

Taako, without a word, turns on his heel and stalks towards his room in the back of the apartment; probably, Merle assumes, to plan his outfit for the journey the next morning.

“So I guess you’re going with them?” He asks Barry, who mumbles something vaguely affirmative. Merle didn’t really expect a verbal response, though, he knows how Barry is when he gets absorbed in his work. There’s really only one person who can shake him out of his own head when he gets like this, and she’s the one they’re looking for.

Merle stands up and wanders into the adjacent kitchen, starting to heat some water for tea. It was going to be a long next couple of days. 


	4. Angus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all know how hard it is to write an interaction between two characters who never meet in-canon? its rough

Angus didn’t plan on getting informally adopted by two elf twins and their human roommate. To be fair, though, he didn’t _plan_ on being orphaned at a young age, or spending quite a few years as a very little boy travelling across Faerun doing detective work. He was, however, _very good_ at detective work.

So when he got asked to consult on a case by the Neverwinter Militia, he expected it would be another in-and-out case, and that he would be back alone on the road again before long. He didn’t expect to find a home, a family, and friends; three things he hadn’t had since his grandfather died a few years prior.

Now, he lives with Lup, Barry, and Taako. They’re good about making sure he has all the independence he needs and wants, and they don’t really care that he’s out of the house by himself at odd hours of the day, wandering around Neverwinter on various cases. They’re funny and kind and a little bit mean sometimes, Taako especially, but Angus is smart enough to know that he doesn’t mean it. He’s planning on enrolling at Lucas Miller’s Academy of the Arcane Sciences next semester, at the behest of Barry and Lup specifically, while still staying on as a consultant for the militia when they need him.

It’s later than he expects when Angus finally leaves the station, having spent most of the day planning the journey into the Neverwinter forest with Hurley, Magnus, and Carey. He knows he’s probably going to be a little late for dinner, but also that Taako’s perfectionist nature when it comes to food probably means that dinner isn’t ready yet anyhow. They trust him, either way, to take care of himself in town, and Angus knows that it’s unlikely either Barry or Taako have realized he’s late, much less bothered to worry about him.

“Hello sirs!” He calls out as he walks in the door, tucking his key back in his pocket. He always pulls it out before he gets to the apartment, but the door is already unlocked more often than not, even when there’s no one home.

“Ango!” Taako calls from the kitchen, “come help cha’boy out!” Angus sets down his bag and walks into the kitchen, where Taako is occupied making dinner. “Pass me the cumin, pumpkin?” Taako asks, not even turning around from where he’s standing at the stove.

Angus grabs the spice from the shelf and sets it down on the counter next to Taako, who casts _Mage Hand_ to ruffle his hair a little. “Thanks little dude, could you make Barold out there move off the table so we can fucking eat? I’m going to be done in a minute and I’d rather not spill my delicious dinner all over his shit.”

Angus nods, but Taako’s attention has already fully returned to the food. When he enters the dining room, he isn’t surprised to see Barry, poring over a sheet of paper, one of possibly hundreds blanketing the table. “Mr, Barry, sir?” Angus asks, tapping him gently on the shoulder in the hopes of shaking him from whatever train of thought he’s lost in. “Taako says dinner is almost ready and he wants the table to be cleaned off by the time its done.” When Barry doesn’t respond, Angus continues, waving a hand in front of his eyeline, “Sir, remember what happened last time Taako wanted your things off the table?” Barry finally looks up at that, and Angus smiles ruefully, remembering the day Taako used _Mage Hand_ to sweep all of Barry’s papers off the table and out a nearby open window. It had been raining. It wasn’t pretty for either party, no matter how funny Angus and Lup found the whole thing.

“How are you, Angus?” Barry asks absently, clearly still deep in thought about something else. Angus isn’t offended, he understands how it is to get caught up in your work.

“I’m very good thank you, sir, or well, I’m as well as I can be with Auntie Lup and all of the other people missing.” Barry’s face crumples a little at the mention of Lup, and Angus winces. They all miss Lup terribly, Taako especially, but Angus is perceptive enough to know that Barry misses Lup a little _differently_ than he and Taako do.

(He’s also perceptive enough to notice that Lup feels the same way Barry does, but Angus is prudent enough not to mention that fact to anyone but Taako.)

“We’re going to find her, sir,” Angus says after a minute of Barry clearing the table in silence. “With you, me, and Taako on the case, how could we not? You’re both very talented in wizardly magics, and I’m the best detective in the world!”

Barry nods and smiles tiredly at him, _which isn’t much_ , Angus thinks, _but it’s something_.“That reminds me, what were you saying earlier about two other people joining our party tomorrow?”

“Oh! Magnus Burnsides and Carey Fangbattle! Both of their wives have gone missing the same way Auntie Lup has, and they’ve volunteered to come with us to search the forest.”

“Right, I think I remember hearing about a- what was it, a Julia Burnsides and a Kellian Fangbattle?- disappearing when I first started researching after Lup went missing.”

“ _Killian_ Fangbattle, sir, and yes; they were some of the first people to disappear, over two weeks ago.”

“God, I… I can’t even imagine…” Barry, having finished putting his research notes away- they were mostly just piled on the floor off to one side, but Taako wouldn’t care, so long as they were off the table- collapses into one of the chairs.

Angus doesn’t know what to say. He feels a little intimidated by Barry; he doesn’t get what it’s like as a kid on the run- not like Taako and Lup do- and while Barry is undoubtedly a very smart man, his interests lie far more in theoretical arcana, as opposed to Angus’s in applied and practical arcana.

Barry always makes Angus feel like a little boy in a way that Merle and Taako and Lup don’t; and it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but Angus is used to feeling older, feeling competent and independent, that he’s not sure he knows how to be a little boy very well anymore. Angus doesn’t like not knowing things.

But, at least, he’s very good at figuring things out.


	5. Magnus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a short chapter but some good good carey and magnus interactions so its ok right? right???

If it had been any other day, Magnus would have bitched and moaned about having to get up so early. But complaining about getting up would have implied he slept well- or at all- in the first place. Magnus hasn’t gotten a good night’s sleep since Killian disappeared, nearly two weeks ago. 

He started sleeping at Carey’s apartment- or she at his- after Julia disappeared, only a few days after Killian. Neither of them are used to sleeping in an empty house anymore, and after the weeks they’ve had, neither Carey nor Magnus wants to sleep alone. 

“Morning, spaceman,” Carey says from the doorway, an old nickname from an older inside joke. Mangus rolls over and shoots her a tired grin; they need what levity they can find. Carey’s already dressed, and Magnus thinks he can smell eggs cooking in the kitchen. “Get your lazy ass up,” She continues, “we’re supposed to meet Hurley at the station in an hour.”

Magnus gets up and stumbles around Carey and Killian’s guest room, where he’s been sleeping more often than not. It’s hard to fall asleep in his own bed when Julia isn’t there. The old hiking backpack he brought from his apartment- filled with a couple pairs of clothes, a sleeping bag, and some camping supplies, with his favorite ax tucked beside it- is leaning against the far wall. Magnus knows Carey has a similarly packed bag waiting in the living room. They’re both more than ready to set out and find their wives.

Frankly, given Magnus’s wandering and adventuring tendencies left over from his youth, it’s a miracle he hadn’t convinced Carey to set out and find them on their own before now.

“I don’t know if I told you,” Carey says when he walks into the front of the house from the bedrooms, “Hurley called last night and said a couple others were going to join us and the kid this morning.”

“Angus.” 

“Right, Angus. Apparently, he’s friends with the family members of someone else who disappeared, and they’re tagging along too.” 

Magnus shrugs- it’s not as though he’s the type to ask for help unnecessarily, but he’s not about to push away other people who could help him find Julia, and help Carey find Killian. His need to find his wife and friend outweigh his pride. 

He and Carey rush through breakfast silently, both caught up in their own heads. They catch a taxi to the Militia’s station, not wanting to leave one of their cars there for who knows how long, and despite being nearly 30 minutes early, they’re not the first ones there.

There’s a small group of four people standing in front of the station, loudly arguing. Magnus recognizes one of the group as Angus, who is so preoccupied arguing with the other members of the group that he doesn’t seem to notice their arrival to begin with. There’s an older dwarf, with what looks like flowers neatly tucked into a fairly scraggly beard, a human man, maybe mid thirties, dressed nearly head to toe in denim, and a tall elf, with a comically tall hat, heeled boots, and a bright red umbrella. Altogether, the four of them paint a pretty odd scene, between Angus already a few inches taller than the old dwarf, the elf’s hat nearly touching the station’s awning they’re standing beneath, and half the party loudly shouting at each other, despite the early hour.

Nevertheless, Magnus- as rustically hospitable as ever- calls out, “Hail and well met!” while waving his hand to catch Angus’s attention. The young boy brightens and, abandoning the conversation mid argument, rushes over to greet him and Carey. 

“Hello sir! Miss Carey! It’s nice to see you care about punctuality as much as I do. Lieutenant Hurley isn’t here yet, but we’ve been waiting because we didn’t want to make her wait for us before we set out this morning. Punctuality is very important, as my Grandpa used to say; the early dragon catches the-”

“Ango!” the tall elf interrupts him- loudly. Angus doesn’t seem to mind, however, simply giving Magnus and Carey a mildly sheepish grin before turning to the expectant elf behind him. “Aren’t you going to introduce us, boychik?”

“Sir, this is Magnus Burnsides and Carey Fangbattle,” Angus says, pointing to the two of them in turn. “And this,” He continues, turning to face Magnus and pointing to the group of people behind him, “is Cleric Merle Highchurch-” the dwarf waves, “-Mr. Barry Bluejeans-” the human man nods, “-and Taako-”

“From  _ TV! _ ” The elf interrupts Angus again, stepping forward to stand beside him and flipping some of his hair behind his shoulder. 

“Taako’s sister, Lup, disappeared a few days ago under the same circumstances as Miss Julia and Miss Killian,” Angus continues, seemingly either unbothered by or used to Taako’s incessant interruptions. “We think Taako can track Lup’s magical energy signature if we get into a close enough range.”

“Magical energy signature?” Carey asks.

“Lup and I are twins, lady, I’d know her evocation bullshit from a mile away.”

“The range is actually a little less than half a mile-” the human- Barry- interjects, but Taako steamrolls over him, as well.

“Whatever Barold, we’re gonna find her, don’t get your jeans in a bunch.” The two of them quickly dive into a loud and passionate argument about some magical science thing Magnus can’t really track, but it seems to be more familial bickering than mean spirited arguing. It also clarifies who started the argument they were having when he and Carey walked up. Magnus grinned for what felt like the first time in weeks. He may not know these people well yet, but he knew this quest would be interesting at the very least. 


	6. Taako

Taako’s used to life on the road. Or at least he used to be. He and Lup spent the majority of their childhood bouncing from house to house, city to city. When you spend the formative years of your life never knowing how long you’ll stay in one place or when you’ll need to leave, you learn to always be ready to move.

So venturing into the Neverwinter Forest with little more than a backpack and his wand felt- disturbingly- a little like coming home. There is something comforting about the open road before you, only having to rely on yourself at the end of the day, not having to worry about getting back so people won’t worry.

The thing is, it’s different this time than it ever was when Taako was younger. This time, he doesn’t have Lup.

And, he’s surrounded by a bunch of rambunctious semi-strangers (and Barry) to boot.

So, needless to say, Taako isn’t having the time of his life.

As much as he enjoyed his adventurous life on the run when he was younger, he’s gotten used to the comfort and stability living in Neverwinter has brought over the last few years. He likes having a fully stocked kitchen, extra money to spend on sparkly things he sees in store windows, he likes having a bed to fall asleep in every night, and never having to worry about someone stabbing him in the back- literally or figuratively- while he’s asleep. Taako’s gotten used to the stability of his life as it is, and Lup is a big part of that. He’s not about to give it up or lose it without a fight.

The first day of travel into and through the Neverwinter woods passes without much fanfare. Taako doesn’t much care for their new travelling companions Magnus and Carey, and for the most part, thankfully, they seem more than contented to keep to themselves.

When darkness starts to fall, they’ve made it a good ways into the forest and the whole party is more than ready to break for the night. Taako unfurrels his Pocket Spa, which has long since been converted to part spa, part closet, part kitchen, and part lab- which Barry somehow managed to convince Taako and Lup to add on.

“So, uh,” Barry says, collapsing into one of the chairs set up in the modified Pocket Spa. “Any change you’ve gotten any, uh, pings yet? On Lup’s energy?”

Taako rolls his eyes. He knows Barry is hung up on his sister, and Taako wants to find her just as much as he does, but does Barry really think if Taako had gotten any clue as to where Lup is, that he’s still be here making dinner for their rag tag group of adventurers?

“Yeah, that’s a dumb question,” Barry continues, knowing Taako well enough to read his silence. “I just-” He sighs, “I’m worried about her, and I know you are too, cause there’s not much out there that can make Lup do what she doesn’t want to.”

Taako laughs a little at that, he and Barry know better than most how stubborn his sister can be, and how difficult it can be to make her do anything other than what she wants to. Taako’s the same way, really.

“Barold,” He says, leaning across the counter to look him unflinchingly in the eyes, “Lulu found me at the other end of a parade in Goldcliff that spanned 20 city blocks. And we were _ten_. I think I can find her somewhere in this dinky little forest.” Barry grins, and nods a little. Taako knows he can’t help worrying, and that it’s not that he doesn’t trust him or Lup. If anything, it’s a nice balance in their little trio to have someone who’s not afraid to be a little cautious.

Not that he’d ever admit that to Barry, of course.

“Now come on, Mopey Bluejeans.” Taako saunters across the kitchen, gracefully pouring his soup into a serving bowl, and using _Mage Hand_ to pick up a stack of bowls from a nearby cabinet. “It’s time to feed the masses with a little _Taako-from-TV magic!_ ”

Angus and Merle perk up as Barry and Taako exit the Pocket Spa; they’re used to Taako’s cooking- spoiled by it, if anything- and know what to expect. Magnus, too, looks up excitedly as Taako walks out, trailed by Barry, carrying the food.

“Holy shit, Taako,” Magnus says, mouth half full, “this is incredible!” And normally Taako would hate someone talking to him with their mouth full of food, but he’s never been one to turn away a compliment, especially one that is completely warranted. His soup _is_ incredible, thank you very much.

“So, uh, Magnus, Carey,” Barry says, fidgeting with his spoon. “What are uh, what are your wives like? Julia and Killian, right?” Magnus and Carey kind of blink at him for a minute, and Taako has to fight the urge to either hit Barry, or cast _Silence_ on him.

“For Pan’s sake, Bare,” Merle interjects jovially, “way to lighten the mood!”

“It’s- it’s ok,” Magnus says, quieter than Taako’s heard him the whole day, “Julia’s… well she’s the most beautiful woman I know- sorry Carey-” He says as he shoots a quick grin at the dragonborn woman next to him, who rolls her eyes and bites down a smile, like it’s something he’s said a million times. “She’s brilliant and kind and strong, she- and Killian both- are two of the best people I know in the world.”

Carey smiles a little sadly at the mention of her wife, “Yeah, Kills… Kills is a badass. If there’s anyone who can make it out of whatever shit they’re stuck in, it’s our girls, huh, Magnus?” Magnus nods, but he’s staring off into the distance, his mind a million miles away.

“Well,” Merle says, in that tone that Taako knows means that he’s going to spout some fatherly bullshit, “I can’t wait to meet them. It sounds like they’d get along great with Lup.”

“She’s your sister, right Taako?”

“Twins, yeah,” He responds, “and I’m gonna kick her ass when we get her back for leaving me with the old man and Barold.”

“What about me, sir?” Angus pipes up from between him and Barry.

Taako looks down at the young boy with more fondness than he’d care to admit, “You’re alright Ango.”

“Lup’s uh, she’s a spitfire,” Barry says, with the same lovesick smile he always gets when he talks about Lup, “but like Merle said, it sounds like she’d get along with your ladies.”

“Jules is something of a spitfire herself,” Carey says, elbowing a blushing Magnus in the side.

Taako isn’t someone who lets people in easily, for most of his life, all he needed was his sister; Merle and Barry and Angus and everyone else he’s met and somehow befriended while living in Neverwinter? An anomaly; if you ask him, he’s got a reputation to uphold. But as much as he doesn’t like people, especially loud and excitable fighters, Taako finds himself laughing along to Magnus and Carey’s jokes, and them joining in good naturedly as he ribs them and Barry and Merle. And although he would never admit it, Taako doesn’t hate having a group of people to laugh and talk and joke with. Lup, perpetually the more social of the two, is never going to let him live it down.

After dinner, the party all settle down and do their separate things before bed. Merle is off somewhere talking to a tree- he claimed they might know something about Lup and the others, but Taako has walked in on him whispering sweet nothings to the plants in his apartment to believe that wholeheartedly. Magnus and Carey wrestle and spar a little bit, in a clearing a couple dozen feet from the rest of them, their laughter and shouts echoing across the forest. Taako is reviewing their prior magic lessons with Angus, who is eager to move on to more serious high level magic spells. And Barry disappeared off somewhere after dinner, but Taako is pretty sure he saw him slip into the still-open Pocket Spa, where he’s sure Barry is moping around, looking at the clothes and experiments Lup left lying around before she disappeared.

Taako knows he needs the space- even if he is using it to stress and worry- and leaves Barry be.

Before long, they all gather back around the campfire Magnus built, and curl up for the night. Angus is curled up almost cat-like at Taako’s feet and Barry is lying flat on his back next to him. Merle is slumped against a tree, sitting almost upright and snoring so loud it almost shakes the forest. Magnus is sprawled out as close to the fire as he could manage and Carey is leaning up against a fallen tree, watching all of them carefully, her eyes always ending up searching the clear night sky stretching above them. And somehow, despite the uncomfortable forest floor, and Merle’s loud snoring, and the almost-strangers sleeping next to him, and the fact that this is over a week without his sister; Taako falls gently asleep.


	7. Kravitz

It’s very early in the morning, just past dawn with the sun still only peaking over the mountains in the distance, when Kravitz stumbles upon the still sleeping party.

The sun’s weak early rays paint the forest in streams of pink and orange, the trees seem to whisper in the breeze above them, and the dwarf is snoring almost impossibly loud.

They’re curled up- all six of them, three humans, a dwarf, a dragonborn, and the most beautiful elf Kravitz has ever seen- around a faintly smoldering fire. The youngest human, a little boy, is curled up at the feet of the elf, who’s spread-eagle and lying halfway on top of the second human, who is- for some reason- sleeping in a pair of jeans. Kravitz only has a moment to admire and ponder over the quaint scene before he catches the elf’s ear twitch out of the corner of his eye.

And before he can do anything other than blink and take a half step backwards, the elf is on his feet and screaming, pointing a red umbrella at him. “I’m going to tentacle your dick!” He’s yelling, and it’s too early in the morning for even an immortal envoy of death like Kravitz to be able to competently handle this. “What’s your name, asshole? I want to credit you in the tent porn I’m about to make with your body!” Kravitz lets out a choked kind of laugh as the elf storms towards him, eyes blazing, his braid half fallen out and trailing behind him.

“Wait, wait!” Kravitz throws his hands up, thankful that he didn’t have his scythe out when the elf woke up, “I don’t mean you any harm don’t- do whatever it is you’re going to do!”

“Sir?” The little boy is awake, sitting up still on the forest floor, rubbing his eyes and looking confusedly at the elf, who pauses but doesn’t lower his umbrella. Kravitz can’t tell whether he just normally threatens people with an umbrella or if it’s some kind of magic channeling instrument; but either way Kravitz isn’t taking the risk. He just started on this mission and he’d rather not waste time fighting an- admittedly very attractive- elf and his compatriots when he has people to save and possible necromancers to lock away in the eternal stockade.

Most of the others are waking up now, too. The dragonborn is on her feet a few paces away from the elf, and all three humans- the young boy, the man in jeans, and a strong looking tall human bearing an ax- are gathering on the other side of the elf, watching him warily.

The dwarf, somehow, is still asleep.

“I am Kravitz,” he says cautiously, lowering his hands slowly so that they’re no longer in front of his face, “and I didn’t mean to startle you- any of you.”

The elf looks mildly put out at the fact that there’s no longer a burgeoning fight going on, and lowers his umbrella to the ground. He leans his weight on it and gives Kravitz a careful once over that he swears he can _feel_. A slow grin smirk spreads across the elf’s face, but he doesn’t say anything.

After a moment, when it becomes clear to the other party members as well as Kravitz that the elf isn’t going to say anything else, the buff human lowers his ax and steps forward to stand beside the elf with a grin. “Hail and well met!” He waves, and Kravitz waves back, a little sheepishly. “My name is Magnus Burnsides,” he continues, “this is Carey,” he points at the dragonborn woman, “Barry Bluejeans,” the human, aptly still wearing jeans, “Angus McDonald-”

“Nice to meet you sir!” The young boy calls out, brightly waving.

“He’s the best detective in the world,” Magnus adds, and to Kravitz’s surprise, multiple other people, Barry and the elf included, nod seriously in agreement. “The big guy that sounds like a chainsaw over there is Merle-”

The dwarf in question rolls over and mumbles something about _Zone of Truth_. Magnus, undaunted, continues without missing a beat. “-And this,” he points at the elf, “is-”

“Taako.” He says, cutting cleanly over Magnus, “ _From TV_. Sorry about all the tent porn stuff earlier, hot stuff, but I’m not really into strange hot men wandering in on me when I’m sleeping, yeah? Give us a couple dates first, Krav.” Kravitz isn’t sure how they got from threatening bodily harm to flirting in the span of like three minutes, but he’s not about to start arguing with Taako. Not while he’s still smirking at him and leaning casually on his umbrella like that.

“It was understandable, given the circumstances, I suppose,” Kravitz manages, thankful that at the very least he can’t blush visibly anymore. “If I can ask, though, what brings a group of people such as yourselves to the Neverwinter Woods at this time of day?”

“We’re doing very important detective work, Mr. Kravitz, sir! People have been disappearing from Neverwinter for the last few weeks, and we believe they may have been taken somewhere in the forest!”

Kravitz frowns and open his mouth, but before he can speak, Magnus chimes in, “We could ask the same thing as you, though, Kravitz. What are _you_ doing in the woods alone this early in the morning?”

“Well, um, Magnus;” Kravitz says rather hesitantly, “frankly? I’m here for the same reasons you all are.” Taako narrows his eyes at him, suspicious, while Magnus looks ostensibly pleased. Kravitz wonders for a split second how long the two of them have known each other, and whether they’re always this at odds- or whether it’s just him. “I am an emissary of the Raven Queen,” he continues, pulling out his scythe with a flourish- Kravitz has never been one to forgo dramatics. “She believes that the disappearances from Neverwinter are connected to a powerful necromancer that we’ve been tracking for a while.” Barry, still a few feet behind Taako and Magnus, gives a sputtering cough.

“So you think Lulu’s been taken by a necromancer?” Taako asks, crossing his arms.

“Two, actually, and we believe they might be using their captives’ life or magic force to add to their own power.”

“Goddamnit Lup,” Takko mutters, finally turning around and storming towards the still-sleeping dwarf, Merle. “Get up, old man,” he says, kicking at the log Merle is laying on, “we’re having breakfast and then we’re going to go find my no-good sister before she gets herself vored by liches.”

Kravitz blinks. Merle wakes up. Magnus looks excited.


	8. Barry

Taako makes breakfast, whipping it up in that causal way only he and Lup seem capable of, making it seem as easy as breathing while they never stop complaining about how hard it is for them and how little thanks they get for their troubles. At this point, Barry finds it endearing. 

They all gather around the dead fire pit from the night before. The six of them, and now, Kravitz, too. Over breakfast, they explain their search for Lup, Julia, and Killian, and their sparse knowledge of when and where they were taken. Kravitz, in turn, tells them about his job- if you can even call it that- with the Raven Queen and how he’s been searching for these two necromancers for a while now. 

Barry can feel Taako smirking at him. He’s carefully avoiding Taako’s gaze because he knows that if he looks Taako in the eye he’s going to burst into a cold sweat, which he’d really rather avoid. 

To be fair, Taako’s really the only one who knows about his  _ minor  _ fascination in necromancy, and his _ even more minor _ experiments in it. Which isn’t really something he wants to bring up in front of Kravitz, the emissary to the Raven Queen. While he’s hunting down a pair of necromancers. 

So there’s that.

“Well, if we’re all here for the same reason, it makes sense that we should all travel together, right?” Magnus says after Kravitz has finished, looking to Angus for support.

“I agree,” Angus says in that  _ ‘I am a serious little boy’ _ voice he has, “Mr. Kravitz, would you like to join us in the search? I’m sure that with all our faculties combined we’ll find them much faster.”

Kravitz nods, and Barry sees his eyes dart to Taako once, quickly, before he looks back at Angus. “I think you’re right, Angus, and I would be honored to join your party,” he looks around at the rest of them, “if you’ll have me?”

“Hell yeah, man!” Magnus cries, bounding to his feet and throwing his hand up in Kravitz’s direction for a high five. Carey, laughing out loud at Magnus’s antics, nods and shoots a thumbs up. 

“Krav,” Taako looks up from where he’d been casually picking at his nails- a nervous habit Barry’s seen more and more since Lup disappeared- “bubelah’s right. I’m sure having  _ another  _ stranger in our little group is going to help me find my sister, and who am I to kick out the son of a goddess or whatever?”

Kravitz looks mildly confused, opens his mouth to say something, but just shakes his head, smiling at Taako bemusedly.

Barry has to bite down on a grin of his own; he knows the look on Kravitz’s face, he sees it everyday in the mirror. It’s the face of someone already smitten with a Taaco twin. 

Barry wishes him luck.

Their increasingly large party departs not long after breakfast, moving deeper into the forest. Barry ends up walking alongside Carey, and they end up sharing stories about Lup and Killian respectively, and they’re both struck by how well the two women would get along. Although, neither Barry nor Carey is sure whether that would be good for the overall well being of Neverwinter and their personal sanity. Barry’s sure Taako would find it hilarious, though.

Merle and Magnus are a few paces ahead of them, arguing good-naturedly about either wood carving or the importance of religion in a household, Barry isn’t sure. Taako, Angus, and Kravitz are bringing up the rear, and Barry can hear Taako intermittently but loudly complaining about the weather, or his spell slots, or whatever Angus and Kravitz are talking about. Barry just tries to tune it out. 

They stop at about midday for lunch, and Taako loops Barry into helping him make it again- despite the fact that Taako barely lets him do anything but cut produce or wash dishes, both of which are things he can do with  _ Mage Hand _ . Taako spends the entirety of their time in the kitchen jumping between bitching about Kravitz, and fawning over him. 

Thankfully, when Taako gets like this, Barry knows he doesn’t need- or want- much more than a silent victim to talk at. Barry ends up just sitting and smiling to himself, he can’t wait to tell Lup about this. She’s never going to let him live it down. 

(It’ll be good payback for all the times Taako’s tortured him about his not-so-little, mind numbing, heart wrenching crush on Lup.)

After lunch, they continue their trek across the forest, and though they do run into a few monsters along the way, between the seven of them they deal with them fairly handily. Again, when the sun begins to set (and Merle begins to complain louder than normal) they break and set up camp for the night. Taako disappears into his modified Pocket Spa- this time, with Kravitz as his captive instead of Barry. 

While they’re waiting for Taako to finish dinner, Angus pulls Barry over and asks him to look over the map he’s been examining over the course of their journey. “So, I believe we’re about here, given the paths we’ve been taking and the location of the sun at the moment,” Angus says, gesturing at some notes he’d written on the map, squinting up at the sun as he does. “Given the triangulation Lieutenant Hurley and I did before we left, I calculated that the kidnappers- Mr. Kravitz believes they’re necromancers or even  _ Liches _ , sir- should be located somewhere in this area,” he gestures to another section of the woods in the map, this one circled in bright red marker. “Which, given our current travel speed over the last few days, we should arrive at the perimeter of sometime tomorrow!”

“Shit, Angus, that’s- that’s amazing. If we’re that close than Taako can-”

“Start tracking Aunt Lup’s magic signature, I know! I was going to tell him during dinner.” Angus glances surreptitiously at the Pocket Spa, where Taako and Kravitz are still making dinner, and then quickly over his shoulder at Magnus, Merle, and Carey, who are half laughing, half sparring in a clearing a couple dozen feet away. He looks back up to Barry, and grabs his arm, pulling him a few feet further away from both the Pocket Spa and the trio behind them. “Sir,” He says, speaking a little lower than he had been, “I think Taako  _ likes  _ Mr. Kravitz.”

Barry smiles. He should’ve guessed that Angus would have been bright and perceptive enough to catch on to Taako’s less-than-subtle moves on Kravitz. “Yeah, Angus, I uh- I think so too, bud.”

“I think Mr. Kravitz likes Taako too,” Angus continues, a grin slowly growing on his face. 

Sometimes, Barry is struck by how much of the twins he sees in Angus, despite him only being in their lives for a couple of years now. As he’s grown up, Angus has adopted a little of their mischief, their chaos, and though it doesn’t show up often, Barry knows that Angus’s smile right now is pure Taaco. 

Barry couldn’t be more proud.

Later at dinner, with Taako and Magnus loudly laughing at him, Carey arguing with Merle, and Agnus and Kravitz pleasantly discussing what sounds like detective literature, Barry can’t help but feel like their little family- Taako and Lup and Angus and him- has gotten a little bigger. Barry wishes Lup could be here to see it, but he knows she will soon. They were going to find her; and Julia and Killian, too, and all the others that had gotten stolen away from their homes. 

They were all going to be home again soon; all of them. 


	9. Lup

Lup is seething. She wants nothing more than to throw off her bindings and incinerate the entire building she- and the others- are being held in. She doesn’t. She tried escaping when she first got brought- where ever it is she is- and it didn’t work in her favor.

Lup has never been an overly patient person, but she has always been a fast learner. She’s spent every waking moment she can manage sitting and silently collecting all of her energy, all of her magic, to cast a spell that will bring Taako right to her. She knows, deep in her bones, that he’s looking for her, but she also knows that she has half his brain cells and without her he can be fairly useless.

 _He’s better than Barry, at least,_ she thinks, _Barry’s_ entirely _useless without me there_.

Then, without warning, the doors slam open.

Everything happens in a flash. Taako, Barry, Merle, Angus, and three others she doesn’t recognize all burst inside. Edward and Lydia, lounging above them on a raised dais, jump up, but they don’t have the time to do more than that before pure hell starts raining down on them.

One of the strangers, a dragonborn woman, throws something up onto the platform with Lydia and Edward, which suddenly is covered in a thick layer of smoke. Taako is already casting _Fireball_ from her Umbra Staff and _Magic Missile_ from his own wand, all while shouting something about tacky costuming. Another stranger, this one a tall and burly human man rushes up, vaults onto the dais, and starts punching at the shrouded forms of Edward and Lydia.

Barry is standing behind Taako, looking as beautiful as ever in his red jacket and filthy jeans, and if Lup had the energy to stand, she would already be over there, throwing her arms around the two men she loves most. He’s standing very still, muttering something under his breath. To anyone other than Lup- or maybe Taako and Angus- it looks like Barry is muttering something to himself, a prayer maybe, but Lup knows him better than that. She only has the time to smile before a near army of skeletons rises up behind Barry, who only smiles, soft and sweet and victorious, before pointing at the dias in front of them.

The skeletons run, a wave more than a crowd, and crash on the platform, climbing over themselves in the scramble to the top.

It’s glorious.

Lup looks around, catching a glimpse of Angus and Merle, both of whom are going around, freeing all the other captives of their bindings. Lup is about to call out to them- Angus is only a couple dozen feet away from her, but hadn’t yet noticed her in the chaos around them- when the third stranger who entered with her friends catches her eye.

He’s tall, taller than Taako or the other human she doesn’t recognize, with long dark locs tied carefully away from his face. He’s beautiful, really, and if she didn’t know better, Lup would say he’s Taako’s type. But what really catches her eye is the scythe he’s holding, black and glinting with reflections of the fires around the room, and the wide, shimmering portal that’s yawning open behind him. She blinks, and for a second, it almost looks like his head is skeletal-

“Auntie Lup!” Angus has noticed her, and comes running, nearly tackling her to the ground with a bear hug. He’s crying, a little, and Lup is surprised to feel a wetness on her own cheeks, too. Angus, mastermind that he is, makes quick work of her bindings, and by the time he’s done Merle has noticed them and made his way over.

“Hey old man,” She says, unable to keep a smile off her face as he pulls her into a warm hug. She’s still kneeling on the ground, but it works because at this height she can comfortably rest her face on his shoulder. She feels Angus nestle in close between them, and for a moment, the loud shouts and crashing noises around them fade away as Lup revels in the knowledge that _they found her_.

Merle winks at her, grinning, when they separate and claps his hand together. Then, in a loud, clear voice he calls out, “ _Mass Heal!_ ” Lup straightens as a wave of healing sweeps across the room, washing over her and all the other people Lydia and Edward held captive. She rolls her eyes at Merle, who just winks again, because they both know he didn’t have to call out the spell as he casted it, he just liked the dramatics.

There is a reason he and Taako get along after all.

Finally, unbound and revitalized, Lup rises to her feet and turns to the dias, ready to wreck bloody vengeance-

Oh.

The tall man, the beautiful one with the scythe, is standing on the dias with Taako and the other, burlier stranger. His head is definitely a skull now, which is weird, but kind of cool. Lup’s not one to judge on that kind of thing. Lydia and Edward are crumpled on the ground, and the burly man is standing menacingly over them while Scythe Guy says something Lup can’t hear to Taako, who grins, broad and smug.

Then, without preamble, Scythe Guy grabs Edward and Lydia with his scythe and pulls them into a portal- same as the one she had seen earlier- open behind him. They disappear with nothing but a flick of Scythe Guy’s black cape, and slowly the room around her quiets as people realize that the fight is over and Lydia and Edward are gone.

“Hey dingus!” She calls out, and she’s already running at Taako. He turns and she sees a split second of shock, and then joy, and then she’s tackling him. They’re both laughing as they tumble to the ground, half hugging, half play fighting. “Took you fucking long enough!”

“You’re the one who got kidnapped by _liches_ goofus!” She just hugs him tighter.

“Lup?” A voice asks quietly after a minute, and _oh_ , she realizes, _Barry_.

And there he is, shy and beaming, and she just looks at him for a minute, awestruck by the relief and joy she sees in his eyes. Taako shoves her shoulder, lightly, and then she’s hugging Barry, too. He holds her so tightly that she doesn’t think she’s ever going anywhere again. Her forehead fits perfectly in his shoulder and they just stand there for a minute.

And there, with her arms around Barry and Taako beside her, Lup feels a wave of relief crash over her almost tangibly, the weight of the last week melting off of her all at once.

She and Barry let go, eventually, and she graciously ignores Taako’s pointed look in her and Barry’s direction. “So, Koko, babe, you’re going to introduce me to your hot grim reaper boyfriend, right?” She smiles as Taako’s blush rises to almost meet Barry’s.

It was going to be ok.


	10. Magnus

Magnus sees a woman who looks startlingly similar to Taako- Lup, he assumes- tackle first Taako, and then Barry, with a hug after Kravitz disappears. Seeing their joyous reunion, and lost in the post-battle adrenaline rush, he doesn’t notice Carey at his shoulder right away.

“Have you seen them?” She asks, quiet, and his stomach drops into his feet. Ice and guilt wash over him, in the chaos during and following the battle, Magnus had forgotten they were here, in this room, somewhere. Killian and _Julia_.

“Jules!” He calls out immediately, not wasting another second. He jumps off the dias and runs through the crowd, scanning it carefully, Carey still at his shoulder. “Julia! Killian! _Julia!_ ”

“Mags?”

And then there she is, standing tall and beautiful and looking at him with a mix of shock and joy and love, and Killian is standing beside her and Magnus can tell she’s looking at Carey the same way and then he’s there-

And she’s in his arms again. And maybe he’s crying a little bit, but it’s ok because she’s safe and she’s here and they’re together again. They’re all together again.

“Magnus, how did you- how are you… what?” Julia is laughing into his shoulder and he just hugs her closer by way of answer.

“I love you Jules,” he whispers into her hair, “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”

“I love you too, Mags.” She pulls away, smiling.“But you are going to tell me how you got here and who the magic users you brought with you all are.”

Killian chimes in, “Yeah, Carey, I have a couple questions too, babe.”

“Hello!” A bright voice says from somewhere around Magnus’s waist. “I’m Detective Angus McDonald and I can probably answer a few of your questions! I’m assuming you’re Miss Julia and Miss Killian?”

Julia looks up at Magnus, still smiling, but a little incredulous. He and Carey, in unison, just shrug.

“Yeah, big guy, I’m Julia, it’s nice to meet you.” She shakes his proffered hand, and Killian follows suit. “Can I ask how you know Magnus and Carey?”

“Oh, well I work alongside Lieutenant Hurley at the Neverwinter Militia to help them solve some of their more difficult cases-”

“He’s the best detective in the world,” Carey chimes in, and Magnus is struck by how much they both believe it now, only a few days after first meeting Angus.

“Yes, well-” Angus blushes a little at the praise, however accurate, before continuing. “I was helping Lieutenant Hurley with, well, _your_ case- all the reports of people disappearing under mysterious circumstances, that is- and Magnus and Carey were often at the station asking Lieutenant Hurley for more information and wanting to help find you two. So when I figured out that your kidnappers were hiding something here, in the Neverwinter forest, Lieutenant Hurley asked me to tell the two of them what I knew about your cases and when I told them I was planning on investigating the forest myself-”

“We decided we would come too,” Magnus says, finishing Angus’s story and tousled his hair affectionately.

“Like we would do anything else.” Carey nudges his side.

“And everyone else?” Killian asks.

“Oh! One of my guardians, my Auntie Lup-” Angus points up at where she, Taako, and Barry are still huddled together on the dias, “-disappeared, too, and so her brother Taako and their friend Barry came along too, as well as our neighbor, Cleric Merle.”

“The weird skeleton guy you saw is Kravitz,” Carey adds, “we ran into him on the way through the forest. He’s some emissary to the Raven Queen and was looking for the people who took you all, same as us, so he ended up joining our party.”

Magnus nods, saying, “He’s a pretty chill dude; for, you know, being an envoy for the goddess of death and all.” Julia laughs at that, and leans her head against Magnus’s shoulder; and for the first time since Killian disappeared, Magnus can take a full, deep breath.

“Are you ok, love?” He asks quietly, more into her hair than anything.

She nods. “I am now. I will be. That’s what’s important, Magnus.”

“I know.”

She pulls away, moving to stand in front of him and taking his hands in hers. For a moment, he’s reminded of their wedding day, standing just like this in the gazebo he built for them in Raven’s Roost. She’s as beautiful today as she was then. Julia doesn’t say anything, she doesn’t have to, she just looks at him and smiles in that way he knows means _‘I love you, I love you more than anything.'_

He smiles back, in response, and then he does what he’s been wanting to do since she disappeared, since he saw her across the room, since he met her; he kisses her.

“Sir? Sir?” Eventually, Magnus recognizes Angus’s voice saying something, and he and Julia break away. “I think Merle is leading people out now. He said something about getting us a ride but I’m not sure what he means by that.” Magnus looks around, and Angus is right; most of the people that were in the huge room when they first came in had left, and he sees Merle by the doors now, shepherding the last few stragglers out.

“Mango!” Taako yells from the doorway, waving an arm, “let’s go, slow poke! The old man got us all a ride back to Neverwinter but we will leave you behind!”

Barry peeks his head back through the doorway too. “I’d trust him, Magnus, he’s left me behind at places before!”

“And it was hilarious!” A voice that sounds like Taako’s- Magnus assumes it’s the infamous Lup- shouts from outside the room.

Carey catches Magnus’s eye. “We should go.”

“I don’t think Mr. Barry would let Taako leave us behind,” Angus says, already moving towards the doors, “but I don’t think we should take the risk.”

“Those are some fun friends you’ve made, babe,” Julia says as they start to follow Angus.

Magnus grins, and loops one arm through Julia’s, and the other through Carey’s as they walk. “Oh don’t worry Jules, you’re going to _love_ them.”


	11. Angus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're almost at the end, here, folks! just one more chapter after this one- i can't believe we're already here at the end! thank you all so so much for the comments and the kudos; they really mean the world to me and please feel free to reach out to me on tumblr as well- im @grasslandgirl there, too!

Angus has worked closely with Lieutenant Hurley during his time working with the Neverwinter Militia, and he likes to think that they’ve become friends over the years. He knows a good amount about her interest, her opinions about the other people at the station, and most importantly, Angus has heard all about her fantastical romance. 

Hurley and her wife, Sloane, met while they were both racers in the infamous Goldcliff battle wagon races. They ended up partnering up, and despite Hurley’s position in the Goldcliff Militia and Sloane’s reputation as a Robin Hood-esque thief, they got along well. They dominated the race track, and together they worked to help the people of Goldcliff in a more… legal way. 

Hurley always winked when she mentioned that part, though, so Angus isn’t sure how accurate it is. 

When Hurley was offered the position of Lieutenant under Captain Captain Bane in the Neverwinter Militia, they moved cities and hung up their racing hats. They moved cities a few years back and Sloane has been working in the Neverwinter Parks and Recreation department for the last few years, trying to make them safer and more fun for the people of Neverwinter. 

Angus has met Sloane a few times, she’s come into the office when he and Hurley are working, brought in lunch or dinner, and he’s even been invited along to dinner with her and Hurley a few times. 

That being said, when Merle said he had a friend who he could call to get all of them- nearly three dozen by Angus’s count- he wasn’t expecting it to be  _ Sloane _ driving up in a big, black, decked out black wagon; complete with feather motifs linking back to her days as the infamous Goldcliff racer,  _ The Rav en .  _

“Miss Sloane!” Angus calls when he sees her, stepping away from where he was walking with Magnus and Julia, and waving his hand. 

She turns towards his voice, and when she sees him the confusion on her face turns quickly to happy surprise. “Angus! It’s good to see you, Hurley told me you went with all of them on this rescue mission,” she winks, “which is probably why it went as well as it did.”

Angus beams, “I can’t take credit for all of it, ma’am, but I’m glad we were able to find and help them; especially Aunt Lup.” Sloane glances in the twins’ direction, one on either side of Barry, and smiles. 

“I’ve heard a lot about Taako over the years. Honestly, it’s kind of weird to see him in person for the first time.”

“That reminds me, how do you know Merle, Miss Sloane? He said he called someone to give us all a ride back to Neverwinter, but he's never mentioned knowing you to me before. Did he call Lieutenant Hurley and she asked you?”

“Actually,” and suddenly, Merle is at Angus’s side, leaning casually against the battle wagon and grinning, “I’ve known Sloanie here for a while.”

“Oh my gods, Merle.” Sloane drops her head into her hands, but Angus can tell she’s trying not to smile. “I’ve told you, please don’t call me that!”

“I knew Sloane when she was a little girl-“

“And when you were still a practicing Cleric.”

Merle gives her a sideways glare, but it doesn’t last long as he tilts his head and nods a little. “Touché. Sloane used to worship at the temple of Pan I grew up at. We go way back, this raven girl and I.” Sloane shakes her head, but she’s smiling at the old dwarf. 

“He might as well be family, and with as hard as Hurley’s been working on all this, it’s the least can do to help all these people,” she says, patting the side of the battle wagon. “I’m up for any excuse to take this old girl out for a spin.”

Everyone piles into the battle wagon; Angus, Merle, Magnus, Julia, Carey, Killian, Barry, Lup, Taako, and all the other people that had been taken by the liches. Together, they make the trek back to Neverwinter. 

There aren’t very many clear roads through the Neverwinter forest, and most people have trouble navigating through the thick woods, but Sloane is a more than capable driver and maneuvers the large battle wagon through the trees with relative ease. 

When they get back to the station, Lieutenant Hurley is standing proudly in front, surrounded by a crowd of people- Angus assumes they’re the assorted friends and family of the other abductees. 

The battle wagon is greeted with loud and joyous cheering, and when Hurley shakes his hand and congratulates him on a job well done, Angus can’t stop beaming. 

Taako and Lup invite them all- Magnus, Carey, Julia, Killian, even Hurley and Sloane, too- back to their apartment for a celebratory dinner. Seeing the twins back in the kitchen together feels like home again. 

Barry is hovering proudly at the sidelines, smiling ruefully when he gets shooed off by one of the twins every few minutes. Merle is arguing about the parks system with Sloane. Hurley, Julia, and Killian are debating the pros and cons of something having to do with what one of them is building at the moment. 

Kravitz knocks on the door a few minutes before dinner is finished, and when she sees him enter the kitchen- Barry opened the door- Lup screeches, “ _ Bone Guy came! _ ” While Taako tries to hide behind the fridge. Kravitz doesn’t seem to mind Lup’s warm but eccentric welcome, and accepts, smiling, when she offers a hug in greeting. 

At dinner, Angus is seared between Taako and Lup, with Kravitz and Barry on either side of them. Surrounded by people he’s known for years or only days, Angus is pleasantly surprised by how much it feels like home. Even Taako, perpetually the self-declared loner, is grinning at the people who have so quickly made a home in their lives. 

Angus lost his parents when he was a baby, and he spent most of his young life raised by his grandfather, who died when he was little more than a child. The last few years with Barry, Lup, and Taako have been the best of Angus’s life since his grandfather passed. He’s always felt at home in their little apartment, but here, laughing and eating with these dozen-odd people; Angus feels like he’s found his  _ family _ . 


	12. Taako

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> god and here we are at the end! thank you all for reading and i hope you enjoyed!

Kravitz is nearly holding his hand by the end of dinner. Taako’s knees keep jostling under the table and though he’s trying to maintain his iconic suave air, he thinks that Angus, at least, is onto him. Taako’s nervous.

He tries to focus, instead, on other things. How fucking delicious the homemade ice cream he and Lup made is. How Barry seems to finally realize that Lup’s been making the same heart eyes at him as he has for years. At how happy and comfortable Angus seems. On how Magnus is calmer and more tolerable, now that his wife is sitting beside him, holding his hand. Carey is louder, though, laughing and poking fun at her wife, but Taako can’t bring himself to mind, not really.

After dinner, when everyone has cleared out of the dining room, Taako goes back in to do one more sweep for any leftover dishes. He’s roped Magnus into washing and Merle into drying, and doesn’t want to have any dishes left out of rotation.

“-Worried when I woke up that morning and you weren’t there,” Barry is saying, and Taako stops abruptly at the doorway. He peeks in just enough to glance inside, and lo and behold, Barry and Lup are standing, holding hands, and staring at eachother like there’s no one else on earth. It’d be gross if Taako hadn’t been waiting for it to happen for the last five years. “It made me realize how- how important you are to my life, and-”

“Bare,” Lup interjects, in a soft voice Taako’s only heard when they have their middle of the night twin heart to hearts. She smiles, kind of wonderstruck, and Taako’s surprised Barry doesn’t swoon right then and there. Taako’s seen him swoon over less. “For my whole life, it’s only ever been me and Taako. And then we moved here, and suddenly you were this immovable force in my life- in _our_ life. Taako loves you, I know he does, like the brother he’s never had. Even if he won’t ever admit it. And I love you too.” She looks away, and Taako swears if one of them doesn’t just out and say what they’ve been dancing around for the last five years, he’s going to cast magic missile at them.

“Like a brother?”

Lup looks at him, steady and searching for a long moment, “No. Not like a brother.”

The grin that breaks out on Barry’s face is almost blinding, and when Lup leans in to kiss him, Taako realizes it’s his turn to take his leave. He walks back into the kitchen and merely shrugs when asked what he’s so smug about. They’ll find out in good time, he’s sure.

* * *

“So I spent like two weeks carving this duck,” Magnus says, waving his arms wildly. He, Taako, Angus, and Julia are all standing around the kitchen as Magnus tells the story of how he first asked out his wife. Well, Magnus is standing in the kitchen, Angus has pulled up a chair from the dining room- which Barry and Lup had mysteriously vacated not too long ago- and Taako and Julia are both perched on the kitchen counters, listening avidly. “And when I walk up to Jules to hand it to her, I have this whole speech planned out in my head about what I’m going to say, and when I get there I just start rambling.”

“He starts saying something about the kind of wood he used to carve it from and how I reminded him of a duck-” Julia continues, laughing.

“It was supposed to be a compliment!”

“You called me a _duck_ , Mags.”

“A beautiful duck!” They're going back and forth now, laughing and jibing and talking more to each other than to Taako and Angus.

“He called her a duck?” A familiar voice asks from just behind Taako and he jumps a little bit in surprise. Kravitz is standing behind him, looking like he’s trying very hard not to smile.

“Yeah, it was supposed to be some grand gesture,” Taako says, trying to recover his cool.

Kravitz raises an eyebrow, “I can’t tell if it worked or not, to be honest.” Taako laughs, and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Angus quietly slip away into the other room. Not looking away from Kravitz, who’s now leaning against the counter Taako is sitting on, he sends up a silent thanks to that little genius, who always knows how to read a room. “Taako-”

“Mmhmm?” Taako hums, leaning back casually on his arm and moving his knee so it's just touching Kravitz’s side.

“As much as I’ve enjoyed this, I have an early morning tomorrow and I still have to make my way back to the Ethereal Plane tonight, so I’m going to have to head out.”

“Oh.” Taako glances over at Magnus and Julia, who have devolved into quiet giggles and poking each other in the side, which Taako is pretty sure is some kind of extended foreplay. He doesn’t want to stick around to figure out if he’s right. “Well I’ll, uh, walk you out, hot stuff.”  He hops down- gracefully, of course- from the counter and stalks towards the front door, assuming that Kravitz is following dutifully behind.

He is.

The steps outside their apartment building are tall and stone, and Taako plops down on them without hesitation when they get outside. Kravitz sits down slowly next to him, and for a minute, they just sit on the steps in silence, looking up at the stars in the clear night sky above them.

“This was fun, my guy,” Taako says eventually, keeping his eyes on the stars. He feels more than sees Kravitz look down and at him, and for a long moment, Kravitz doesn’t say anything.

“Taako,” he says finally, “I have to ask, did you invite me here tonight because I helped you save your sister, or… or was there another reason?”

Taako looks down and meets Kravitz’s eyes, a little surprised to see how nervous he seems. “Honestly, it was a little of both.” Kravitz laughs a little, partially out of nerves, partially out of surprise. “Like, yeah, I think it’s tight you helped me save Lulu and everyone else, that was really sweet the way you helped me do that; but like, also yeah. I invited you to this little shindig because I wanted to hang out with you and shit. If that’s… you know… cool. With you.”

Kravitz is laughing again now, but it's a joyful happy thing, not the nervous laughter he had when Taako started. He smiles widely, “Yes, Taako, this is definitely cool with me.” He reaches out and places it gently on top of Taako’s.

Suddenly Taako’s very glad it’s dark outside so Kravitz can’t see the bright blush blooming on the tips of his ears right now. And even more suddenly, Kravitz leans in and kisses Taako; sweetly, gently, a question more than anything. Taako kisses him back, abruptly and without hesitation, a quick and comfortable answer.

“Ok then, hot stuff,” Taako says, a little breathless, when they break apart either seconds or minutes later- neither of them are sure how long they spend kissing on the apartment building’s front steps.

“I do have to go,” Kravitz says, rubbing the back of his neck and grinning down at Taako. He’s a little sheepish, but mostly just giddy. “I have work in the morning and-”

“An angry bird goddess to serve, yada yada, I get it Krav.” And maybe if Taako wasn’t so nonchalant about it, or if he wasn’t grinning nearly literally ear to ear, it might have sounded sarcastic or bitter. But somehow, Taako just managed to sound understanding and sweet. Which wasn’t usually his forte. “You’ll call me, yeah?”

“Definitely.” Kravitz says, dropping one last kiss quickly on Taako’s forehead before standing and opening a rift to the Astral Plane behind him. “Bye, Taako.”

“Later, ghost rider.”

Kravitz’s laughter echoes across the quiet street even after the rift closes and Taako is alone.

* * *

It’s been two years since a pair of liches started stealing residents of Neverwinter away from their homes in the middle of the night. It’s been two years since Killian Fangbattle, Julia Burnsides, Lup Taaco, and about two dozen other people disappeared. It’s also been two years since a band of concerned friends and family members gathered together to find their missing loved ones. It’s been two years since they all were found again.

It’s been two years, and somehow Taako’s comfortable little pseudo family unit of him, his sister, the nerd they found, and a boy detective they adopted almost tripled in size. And frankly, he’s not sure he minds.

He fixes a strand of hair that had fallen out of his updo.

Lup is lounging in a chair, wrinkling her dress terribly, and Taako has to physically force himself not to make her stand up while he steams it- again. She and Julia are laughing at some story Killian is telling. Carey and Lucretia, a friend from Lup’s work, are standing a few feet away, talking about something else. There’s something almost domestic about the whole thing, how everyone fits together so comfortably, like they were meant to go together. It helps to soothe Taako’s nerves. A little.

There’s a knock at the door, and as he opens it, Taako’s already saying, “Barold I don’t care what it is, you can wait a half an hour to tell Lup, I’m not-” Merle is grinning at him. “Shit, is it time already? Lulu! Let’s go, bitches! It’s go time!” Merle chuckles and walks back down the hallway, and Taako hears conversation halt abruptly as they all realize what this means.

 _“Shit!”_ Lup says as she stands up, “Taako, grab the steamer- my dress!”

“You should have thought about that before lounging like a _caveman_ in a silk dress,” he teases as he absently casts a spell to help shake out some of the wrinkles. “Barry’s not going to care, anyway, obviously.”

Lup glares at him, but it falls a little short as a helpless kind of grin worms its way onto her face. “Shut up.” She punches him in the arm, and then hooks it in her own, walking them together out of the room and into the hall.

“Careful! _Some_ of us took the care not to get covered in wrinkles moments before a major event, thank you!”

“Let’s go you two,” Julia says, stepping in on the other side of Lup and walking alongside them. “We don’t want to be late.” She winks, and Taako’s reminded yet again why Magnus must’ve married her. Not that he can fault his taste.

They all gather in the entryway. Merle is already there, and so are Magnus, Angus, and Davenport- another one of Lup and Barry’s other friends from their nerdy-ass job. And, of course, Kravitz is there, looking both dashing and nervous, and chatting with Magnus. Barry, Taako assumes, is already at the altar; which is probably for the best because Taako knows that he’s going to break into tears when he sees Lup for the first time.

Merle covers for like the fifth time who’s walking with who, before heading up the aisle himself.

Julia and Magnus go first, walking arm and arm. Taako thinks Magnus looks a little weepy-eyed as they walk through the door, which honestly doesn’t surprise him- he’s seen the man cry at dog homecoming videos on fantasy YouTube. Carey and Angus follow them, the younger boy grinning ear to ear as he whispers something avidly to Carey, who looks like she’s trying very hard not to laugh. Lucretia and Davenport follow them, which is more than a little amusing, because Davenport is a good three to four feet shorter than Lucretia, a white-haired woman who towers over the older gnome. Somehow, they make it work. Killian and Kravitz go last, and Kravitz gives Taako one last smile over his shoulder as they walk through the door, leaving him and Lup alone in the entryway.

Lup is staring at the door, and has been since Merle walked through it, almost like if she looks hard enough she’ll be able to see Barry through the wood of the door and the small crowd of people in between them.

Taako takes her hand, gently, and she starts a little before meeting his eye, like she almost forgot he was there. “You ready, Lulu?”

She smiles, the same bright and joyous smile Taako’s seen a million times. The same smile she had for years, whenever she talked about Barry, even when she didn’t realize she was doing it. The same smile she has almost every time she and Barry are in a room together. And she nods, “Abso-fucking-lutely, Koko.”

And they walk out of the entryway and down the aisle, arm in arm. Hurley and Sloane are in the audience, and Merle’s kids Mavis and Mookie, and Ren from Taako’s restaurant, and  so many other people that have managed to bury themselves into Lup and Barry’s life; into Taako’s life.

They reach the end of the aisle and Lup hands her bouquet to Taako, kisses his cheek, and moves to stand across from Barry. Taako stands to one side of the pair, and Merle starts to say something about Pan, or about love, Taako’s not really sure. But Lup and Barry are holding hands like they never plan on letting go, and Angus is beaming, and Magnus and Killian both are crying a little bit. And from across the altar, Kravitz is smiling at him.

And Taako’s never been more happy.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! the next chapter should be up soon, feel free to come bug me at @grasslandgirl on tumblr, either about this fic or taz or anything else i guess! have a great day and thanks for reading!!


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